This Bank of America’s Free Museum On Us Program post is updated for 2023. Bank of America customers can check out museums, gardens, and more for free on the first full weekend of each month.
For more places to visit, check out all of our attractions posts.
When we’re on vacation, we like visiting local history museums and learning about the area. If you’re going to visit, it’s so important to know the history of the area you’re visiting and how the town you’re in came to be. Sure, barhopping is fun. And we love to eat our way through town. But it’s fun to learn about the town too.
Plus, if you’re looking for a rainy day activity, museums are often completely indoors (with the exception of living museums), so they’re great on bad weather days.
They’re also great if you’re a Bank of America cardholder. On the first Saturday and Sunday of each month, Bank Of America hosts a Free Museums on Us weekend. Bank of America cardholders can get complimentary general admission to various museums, zoos, science centers, botanical gardens and more.
We have a bunch of details about the program below.
Bank Of America’s Free Museums On Us Program
Let’s talk a little bit about Bank Of America’s Free Museums On Us program, shall we?
Bank Of America’s Free Museums On Us Program: Frequently Asked Questions
Museums On Us occurs the first full weekend of the month.
If a month starts on a Sunday, the Museums On Us weekend will be the second weekend of the month. In all other instances, Museums On Us weekend is the first weekend of the month.
You can find a complete list of Museums on Us participants here.
Search by city or zip code, whichever is easier. On that list, you’ll also see a designation of “Saturdays only” or “Sundays only”. Sometimes, a participating institution will only participate one of the two days of the weekend, and that will be noted. If there’s no notation, it means the museum participates on both days.
If you’re in Wilmington, NC like I am, the Cameron Arts Museum is a participating museum. And, if you want to go where we’ve been, the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens in Winter Park, Florida and the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington are on the list.
It also includes Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey (which is so fun for kids but can definitely get expensive, so this is a great deal for that museum).
The Smithsonian hosts Museum Day, which is an annual nationwide program that grants free admission at participating museums. Museum Day is open to anyone and you have to register because participating museums have a limited number of free tickets for that day.
Active Bank of America, Merrill, or Bank of America Private Bank (U.S. Trust) credit or debit cardholders, with a valid photo ID, are eligible for free access to participating museums.
Cardholders can get one free general admission ticket. And, you will actually be given a physical ticket, just like any paying visitor. So you will be restricted to whatever that general admission ticket allows.
Cardholders are eligible for one free ticket, valid for the individual cardholder. It’s not valid for family members. So, if you’re heading to the museum with a child who doesn’t have a credit or debit card, you have to pay for your child to enter. (Side note: I’ve heard that museums have been lenient with children’s admissions, so don’t let that deter you from checking out a museum. You may be surprised at the admissions desk.)
A slight workaround is that cardholders and authorized users are able to participate in the Museums On Us program. So if your children are authorized users of your Bank Of America account, you can get them their own card. Then, that card can be used during Museums On Us days.
Ticketed, special exhibitions, and fundraising events are excluded from this offer. Access to those programs/exhibits may be available for an additional fee. Be sure to check with your local museum for additional details (since museums are allowed to make their own rules for this program).
So, this is cool.
Bank of America cardholders can receive free admission at any participating Museums On Us museum (zoo, botanical garden, etc.).
So, let’s say you’re planning a trip to San Antonio, Texas. There are five museums in San Antonio that participate in the Museums On Us program: Briscoe Western Art Museum, The DoSeum: San Antonio’s Museum For Kids, Witte Museum, McNay Art Museum, and the San Antonio Museum of Art. You can actually go to all of those in one weekend, if you wanted, completely for free.
I’m not saying you should plan your vacation around a Museums On Us weekend. But, if you happen to be planning a vacation during the first weekend of a month, check to see if there are any participating museums in the area.
You are not limited to one museum per Museums On Us weekend. You can go to as many as you have time for.
To expand on this, you can go to a museum on Saturday, and, if you loved it or you’re just bored and looking for something to do, you can go back again on Sunday. There’s no one who is going to stop you.
This is valid at participating museums in the United States only.
Bank Of America Museums On Us 2023 Dates:
The Museum On Us program takes place on the first full weekend of every month. In 2023, the free museum days are:
- January 7 and 8
- February 4 and 5
- March 4 and 5
- April 1 and 2
- May 6 and 7
- June 3 and 4
- July 1 and 2
- August 5 and 6
- September 2 and 3
- October 7 and 8
- November 4 and 5
- December 2 and 3
Virtual Museum Tours
Can’t make it to a participating museum? Or just don’t have a the necessary bank card to partake in this? No worries.
You can check out one of these virtual tours: 20+ Free Virtual Museum Tours, 10+ Virtual Zoo Tours, or the Buffalo Trace Distillery Virtual Tour.
Have you taken advantage of Bank of America’s Museums On Us program? Be sure to let us know in the comments.